Senior Library Assistant

The Whipple Library is looking for an enthusiastic, customer oriented, and well organised Senior Library Assistant to join our small team.

The Whipple Library is embedded in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science and, along with the Whipple Museum, really is the laboratory of the Department. Our collections are broad, include material on a range of interdisciplinary topics, and span the history of Western printed texts, from our six incunables to the very latest research. The Whipple Library exists primarily to support the teaching and research activities of the Department, but we also welcome and encourage users from other Departments and Faculties from around the University, as well as all with a scholarly interest in our collections.

The post involves a wide and varied range of library work, offering a good balance between routine tasks and responsive service. The range of duties typically includes responding to reader enquiries (in person, by email and by phone), day-to-day management of the circulation system (Ex Libris Alma), shared responsibility for cataloguing new acquisitions, coordinating reading lists and providing CLA-compliant scanned content for the Department's Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle), and helping to support the special collections service. As the role holder, you will also have opportunities to participate in outreach and engagement activities, including school visits and events during Open Cambridge and the Cambridge Festival, and will contribute to our exhibition programme and the Library special collections blog. Flexibility and the ability to prioritise tasks while maintaining good customer service are therefore essential to the role.

We welcome applications from individuals who wish to be considered for part-time working or other flexible working arrangements.

We particularly welcome applications from candidates from a BME background for this vacancy as they are currently under-represented at this level in our institution.

To apply online for this vacancy and to view further information about the role, please click the 'Apply' button, above.

For informal enquiries please contact:

Jack Dixon, Whipple Librarian by email to jmd96@cam.ac.uk or telephone (01223) 748843.

Closing date for applications is Sunday 27 April 2025.

Interviews will be held at the end of the week beginning 5 May 2025

Please quote reference VE45670 on your application and in any correspondence about this vacancy.

The University actively supports equality, diversity and inclusion and encourages applications from all sections of society.

The University has a responsibility to ensure that all employees are eligible to live and work in the UK.

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